Page 16
November 22, 2017
Boss Hogg
Christmas Tree Lot
Photo by k ayla n ewMan
Martial arts skills, de-escalation techniques and boundary settings are techniques learned by women
in self defense classes taught locally by a group called WomenStrength.
Woman Strong
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of victims being under 30. And in
Oregon, an estimated 27 percent
of females have been raped, com-
pared to 18 percent of women and
girls nationally, according to The
Women’s Foundation of Oregon.
“This has been women’s expe-
rience probably, I can’t say forev-
er, but I can say in my lifetime,”
Johnson said. “The first time I
had sexual harassment/sexual as-
sault [happen to me] I was in sixth
grade. That’s the first time. And I
literally couldn’t count the num-
ber of times it has happened to me
in my adult life. It’s too many to
name.”
Though Johnson said the Me
Too campaign has been a powerful
tool to bring light to the issue, she
also respects women who chose to
keep the experiences confidential
because she understands it can be
painful for women to relive.
Ninty-four percent of women
who are raped experience post
traumatic stress disorder, which
can involve flashbacks of the in-
citing event during the first two
weeks following the rape and 30
percent of women report symp-
toms of PTSD, nine months after
the rape, according to the Journal
of Traumatic Stress and American
Psychiatric Press.
In addition to the self defense
skills taught at WomenStrength,
40 percent of the course also
teaches non-physical safety work-
shops and verbal de-escalation
training.
“I think simply by teaching
women boundary setting, more
comfortable boundary setting, is
a prevention tool,” Johnson said.
A 2014 article at University
of Oregon showed that female
college age students who took
self-defense classes experienced
fewer and less severe instances of
sexual assault the following year
than those who didn’t.
WomenStrength also teach-
es a program to males called
BoyStrength, which they are
also accepting volunteers for and
can be taught by men. Instead of
teaching self-defense, though,
the course teaches things like
yoga, breathing and meditation
techniques, and lessons healthy
relationship to teach boys how to
become leaders of non-violence in
their communities.
“Men have more power in this
country than women, so men have
more power to help end violence
against women,” Johnson said.
According to a 1997 U.S. De-
partment of Justice report, 99
percent of sexual assaulters in
single-victim incidents were men
and 6 out of 10 were white.
Johnson said some of the ways
men can be allies to the cause of
preventing sexual violence against
women is by donating to a shelter
or violence prevention organiza-
tion like WomenStrength, getting
involved with the Portland-based
advocacy group Men Engaging
Now (find them on Faceboook),
and empathizing with women who
may have experienced past trauma.
“The other thing I think that
men can do is gently ask the wom-
en in their lives about their expe-
riences, not that they have to tell
them to you. But be open about,
‘I don’t know how to respond to
this, how can I help you?’ And I
think we need more of that from
men, we really, really do.”
For more information about
volunteering for WomenStrength
or attending the year round class-
es, which occur twice monthly on
evenings and weekends at a rotat-
ing venue, visit portlandoregon.
gov/police/womenstrength.